Colombia

(UNITED STATES OF,) (ko-lum'be-ah.) [Formerly called NEW GRANADA. ] A S. American republic, in the N.W. angle of the continent, bounded N. by the Caribbean Sea, W.by the Pacific, N.W.by Costa Rica, E. and S.E. by Venezuela and Brazil, and S. by Ecuador. Length, N. to S., 845 m.; breadth, 675 m. Area, 475,000 sq. m. The Andes in this state trifurcate into three subordinate ranges, the E., Central, and W. Andes, spreading themselves over the W. and central divisions of the republic, and having many intervening valleys of great fertility; Tolima, the highest summit, reaches an altitude of 18,200ft. The pp. rivers are the Cauca and Magdalen a, running N. into the Caribbean Sea; the S. and E. regions are drained by feeders of the Orinoco and Amazons. Climate. Variable; salubrious on the higher plateaux; malarious on the coasts and in the river-bottoms. Soil fertile, but under inefficient cultivation; wheat, maize, coffee, cotton, rice, sugar, & c., are raised. Tropical fruits, drugs, dye woods, and bark are found in high perfection. Internal communication is bad (roads being few), while the minerals, though believed to be rich, are little worked, if at all. The republic is divided into 9 depts. Prin, towns. Bogotá (cap.), Santa Martha, Carthagena, Asp in wall, Panama, Chagres, Popayan. The Roman Catholic is the State religion; toleration of others is allowed. Hist. New Gran ada, discovered by Ojeda, 1499, was first settled by the Spaniards in 1510. Its independence, declared in 1811, was consummated by a union with Venezuela in 1819, when the fused States formed themselves into the republic of Colombia. Allying with the other and surrounding S. American States in 1823, New Granada retired from the union in 1829, and set up a president of her own in 1833. Ultimately, in 1861, the republic a umed its present title, Ecuador declining to enter the confederation. Insurrections have since been the order of the day. Pop. 2,794,473. [s. 206]